Just Another Day
by StoryLover95
Summary: The Acolytes, done serving Magneto, have switched sides and joined the X-Men just at the same time that two new mutants are added to the roster. What will happen when the X-Men will not only have to befriend former enemies, but deal with two newbies? Friendships will be made, bonds will be tested, and relationships bloom! Kiotr, Romy, Jonda, Jott, Loro, OC/OC
1. Chapter 1

Just Another Day

Why she had even been downstairs, she didn't know. She had planned on heading to the kitchen to get a grape juice box—the ones that Jamie would horde and hide from everyone, claiming he _needed_ them all so all his clones could drink—and a small snack before heading back into her room. It was already pretty late at night and she knew that Rogue would turn off all the lights in their room and fall asleep whether she was in there or not, and the _last_ time that happened she had tripped over a pile of clothes and phased through the floor, landing on the kitchen table while Logan just looked at her in sheer confusion. So, _why_ she had decided that she would walk over to the front door in order to answer it—while she was just wearing her short shorts and night shirt that she used to sleep in—she didn't know. Why she didn't wonder who in their right mind would even be at their front door at 11 o'clock at night was also a mystery to her, but then again, hindsight is 20/20.

So surprised by the three individuals in front of her, Kitty Pryde could only blink at them, trying to formulate what to do.

The three Acolytes did nothing more than blink back and shift on their feet awkwardly. Piotr looked embarrassed and stared over Kitty's head, more than likely at the fact that she was dressed with a small amount of clothes. John was fiddling with the lighter in his hands nervously and shooting glances over to his fellow Acolytes, while Remy was the only one who maintained eye-contact the entire time, as if trying to size up what it was the Shadowcat was going to do. "Bonsoir, Chaton," Remy spoke up after around a minute of awkward silence. Kitty brought the juice box up to her lips and sipped at it, making a slurping noise as she continued to stare at them. Slowly the hand holding the door started to move as she tried to close the door, hoping they wouldn't notice until it was completely closed and locked. "We can see ya movin' the door, Chaton."

Kitty sighed and took a bite of the cookie she had in her hand, nibbling at it nervously. "Can you like, just wait until I at least get changed first? All my other pj's are supposed to be washed tomorrow, so I really don't want you to destroy these. Or better yet, can we like have a rain check? I'm _so_ not energized enough to fight."

"We mean you no harm," Piotr assured, looking at her face instead of over her head as he had been a few seconds prior. "We wish to join the X-Men."

John nodded his head enthusiastically. "Yeah! Totally! We ain't here to fight and we jus' wanna fight the good fight!"

"So… you're _not_ here to try and destroy us?" Kitty asked as a confused pout found its way onto her face. At the men shaking their heads to confirm that they were truly _not_ going to spontaneously attack her, she gave them all a half smile. "Well that's a relief. I'm too tired to fight anyway! So, you guys really want to be X-Men?"

"Da," Piotr responded for the group.

Kitty nodded her head and smiled wider. "Cool, so let me just call Logan, he can bring you to the Professor."

The faces of the three men paled at the mentioning of the fearsome Wolverine. Remy shook his head. "Wait, Chaton, maybe you should just—"

"LOGAN! THE ACOLYTES ARE HERE!" Kitty hollered, before Remy could convince her not to call the feral man. Almost immediately a snarl ripped through the air as well as the sound of several banging doors and a stomping of feet on the floor. Logan showed up on the staircase first, his claws out and a particularly menacing look on his face. When he saw Kitty standing at the door within such a close proximity to the three men he growled. Scott, Jean, Rogue, Kurt, and Bobby were the next ones to fill in on the stairs, everyone ready to fight, while some of the New Mutants peered around their fellow X-Men to get a look at the scene.

"Get away from them Half-Pint!" Logan snarled, as he leaped down the stairs and started to head in their direction.

"Shiela, save us!" John whispered-hissed to Kitty, as he tried to maneuver his way behind the small brunette for some form of protection. Remy shifter closer to Piotr and wondered if they should just all run.

Kitty, realizing what was going on, blinked and smiled at Logan, stepping into his path and holding her hands up. "Wait, they're not here to attack! Promise! I already asked them that and they totally didn't kill me!" Kitty assured, causing Logan to stop his advance. He looked at Kitty for a few seconds, prompting her to explain. "They want to speak with the Professor to see if they can actually join up with us!"

"You three want to join _us?"_ Scott asked from his spot on the stairs.

"Da petite ain't lyin'. We want to join," Remy repeated, his confidence making a return as he crossed his arms casually and leaned against the doorjamb. "We thought dat ya could use some talent, instead of havin' to deal with Captain Stick-Up-The–Ass all day," Remy said with a smirk, earning a small laugh from Bobby, Kitty, and some of the New Mutants. Rogue cracked a small smile.

"What makes you think we'll let you join?" Logan challenged, grabbing Kitty's arm and maneuvering her so she was behind him and out of the way should he want to lunge at the three Acolytes.

"Come now Logan, we should at the very least hear them out," Professor Xavier's voice spoke up. Everyone turned to see him entering the room with Storm pushing his wheelchair. He smiled to the Acolytes at the door before looking towards Kitty. "Could you show our guests to the living room so that we may speak with them? The rest of you, feel free to go back to sleep," Xavier spoke up in a soothing yet authoritative tone that caused everyone to disperse and do what they were told.

"Um, just follow me!" Kitty said, with forced enthusiasm as she noticed that Logan had neither moved from his spot in front of her nor sheathed his claws. As soon as the Acolytes started to follow the short brunette, Logan had started to follow behind them, growling lowly despite the looks Xavier was sending his way.

"I'm startin' to rethink our idea to come here…" John muttered to Piotr while tossing a look back at Logan who still held a malicious look on his face. Piotr followed John's line of sight and nodded, but said nothing, lest he somehow anger the feral man.

Kitty led the entire group to the living room and gestured for them to sit down on the couch while she stood awkwardly with Logan, trying to figure out if she should just leave or stay there. When Xavier and Storm entered the room, she looked to them as if they would tell her if she had to be there or not. Xavier, having sensed her thoughts, shook his head. Logan caught the exchange and sheathed his claws so he could jerk his thumb over his shoulder, towards the door. "Go on and get yourself another juice box, Half-Pint."

Kitty, thankfully for the excuse to leave, smiled and nodded. She turned back to look at the Acolytes—who all looked extremely distraught at the fact that they wouldn't have her there for some sort of protection—and gave them a grin. "Good luck!" And with that she phased out of the room, leaving the three men with the feral man, the telepath, and the weather witch.

The room was plunged into an awkward silence as the two groups of people just stared at one another. Xavier looked mildly amused before he cleared his throat. "So, perhaps you should explain your reasoning as to why you wish to join us now?"

"Well…" Remy started off, looking back at his two friends for some sort of support. "After the incident with Apocalypse, Mags disappeared, so we decided ta take care of the blackmail material he had on us. We're outta our contracts and now we can do what we want."

"What blackmail material?" Storm asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"We weren't with Mags for the kicks," John retorted with a shrug. "He had dirt on all of us. Some job Remy pulled that went slightly awry, I burnt down a city—totally accidental, by the way—and Piotr's sister was sick or somethin' and Mags paid for the treatment for her to get better."

"So you were being blackmailed into helping him this entire time?" Logan asked with a quirked eyebrow and a skeptical

"Da," Piotr spoke up, nodding sullenly. "Had we had our choice, we would never have worked with him."

"Mags is bat-shit crazy when he doesn't get what he wants, and ole Vic ain't a walk in the park either," Remy pointed out.

"Why should we trust you?" Logan challenged.

"We ain't got nothin' to lose," Remy shrugged.

Xavier, who had been silent throughout the entire conversation, tented his fingers in front of his face and looked at the three men, an unreadable expression on his face. Everyone's attention had turned to the man, as they waited his decision. After around a minute of Xavier staring, he placed his hands in his lap and a smile found its way onto his face. "I can see the three of you are telling the truth and that you are genuine in your wanting to join us. I don't see why we can't allow them to stay with us on a probationary period until some of the other students are 100% sure of their intentions." Logan looked like he wanted to argue, but Storm caught his eyes and shook her head. The feral men growled and crossed his arms over his chest, but said nothing. "We are receiving two new mutants tomorrow so you will start your training with them. While we know you are very capable, we must do the mandatory training as with all new recruits. Piotr and Remy, you may share a room and Pyro you'll share a room with one of the new students arriving tomorrow. Kitty will be able to show you each to your rooms and you may use your uniforms for training and your Danger Room sessions. Try to get along as best you can, and I do hope you enjoy your stay here."

* * *

"I thought dat Xavier said dat da _chaton_ would be showing us to our rooms…" Remy muttered under his breath as he stared at the back of the Wolverine, who looked anything but pleased to be acting as a tour guide for any length of time no matter how short.

"Kitty's off to sleep. And you really think I'd leave her alone to escort you three?" Logan shot back without turning to look at any of them. He stopped at one door on the right side of the hallway and pointed towards it. "Tin-Man and Gumbo, that's your room." He then turned to point to the door right across from it. "Matchstick, your room is that one. You share with the new kid tomorrow," Logan said as he glared at the three. "There are a couple rules. 1) No blowing shit up, cause I'm not gonna deal with it. 2) No beating anyone up, cause I'll be _forced_ to deal with it. 3) Go into the girls' wing at night for any reason and you'll be maimed. 4) Go into any of the girls' _rooms_ at night and you will find yourself skewered on my claws. 5) Don't bother me. Now if you can handle all that, get into your rooms and get to sleep so I don't have to deal with you."

With that Logan stalked off down the hallway to head towards his room.

The three men stood in the hallway for a minute before John spoke up. "Do you think it's too late to try and become male strippers?"

"Far too late homme."


	2. Chapter 2

Just Another Day

It was nearly four o'clock in the morning when the doorbell to the Institute rang again. This time, luckily, Kitty wasn't around to answer it. Instead, Logan—who had been impatiently waiting for this particular person to arrive—opened the door with a scowl on his face as he looked at the person on the other side. The kid had to be around 18 or 19 years old and he was taller than the Wolverine. He was around Remy's height and it was obvious to see he was muscular through the well-fitting jeans, tight black t-shirt, and combat boots. He had an Army print bag slung over his shoulder and it had 'LENNOX' spray painted in black letters. He had black hair and crystal blue eyes with a scar going through the end of his left eyebrow. Something that Logan _didn't_ appreciate was the fact that the boy was wearing a scowl on his face, much like he was.

"You Conner Lennox?" Logan asked gruffly.

"You Logan?" The boy retorted without hesitation.

"You got attitude kid," Logan said, crossing his arms.

Conner snorted and rolled his eyes. "And you're a charmer?"

The two locked glares for what seemed like a few minutes. Logan quirked an eyebrow as he looked at the Army print back before looking back to the black-haired teen. "You a military brat?" Conner merely responded by pulling out the dog tags he had hidden underneath his t-shirt. They clearly said 'Conner Lennox' on it and Logan nodded. "You watch sports?"

Conner narrowed his eyes before the corners of his mouth quirked up a bit. "Football, Basketball, and Hockey. None of that baseball crap."

"You watch Hockey?" Logan asked skeptically. At Conner's nod, Logan let a slow smirk find its way on his face. The kid wasn't half bad. "You drink beer?"

"You offering?"

Logan smirked. Kid wasn't half bad at all.

* * *

A loud banging noise on the door startled Remy and Piotr awake. Remy was out of bed and had a deck of cards in his hands in seconds, while Piotr reacted with much less alarm and merely rolled out of bed and sat on the edge and started to stretch. Once Remy was sure they weren't getting attacked, he looked towards the clock on the nightstand in between his and Piotr's bed and his eyes widened. "Petey, tell me dat clock is wrong."

"The clock is right, comrade. It's five thirty," Piotr mumbled out, rolling his neck.

"Who in dey right minds wakes someone up at five in da mornin'?" Remy complained—not bothering to remember his roommate was a morning person and _had_ woken up at five in the morning before—as he walked over to the door and yanked it open so the banging would stop. He was surprised to see Rogue standing in front of him in her X-Men uniform with an annoyed look on her face. He recovered from his surprise quickly and crossed his arms over his chest, flexing his arms in the process and let a smirk find its way onto his face. "Mornin' chérie. Ya came by to see Remy?"

"Ah came by, Swamp Rat, to let ya'll know that trainin' starts in fifteen minutes," Rogue said with an annoyed glare on her face. "And since Logan's gonna be the one runnin' it, Ah suggest ya'll are on time."

"Aw, why ya look at Remy like dat, chere?"

"Ah'm lookin' at ya like this cause, thanks to you and ya friends showin' up, all of us Senior X-Men have to wake up _earlier_ to run our damn DR sessions and then we gotta help ya'll out with ya trainin' too!" Rogue glared at him. Her eyes drifted downwards to where he was wearing nothing but boxers with flaming cards decorated on them. While she couldn't deny that every inch of his muscled torso was appealing—which she would _never_ say out loud to anyone—she was more annoyed with the fact that he more than likely just rolled out of bed and had gotten more sleep than her. "Get some damn clothes on Swamp Rat and get ready for trainin'." With that she stalked off, heading in the direction of the stairs, grumbling to herself the entire way down.

Remy closed the door behind him and grinned at Piotr who—after hearing the entire argument outside the door—was changing into his Acolyte uniform. "She wants Remy."

Piotr raised an eyebrow at his friend but decided not to dignify his comment with a response. Instead he merely continued getting dressed and walked into the bathroom to get ready for the training. He did not want to be late. After all, they were graciously invited into the Xavier Mansion, the least they could do was be on time for their training. Once he was finished brushing his teeth and making sure he was decent, he walked out to see Remy lazily shuffling a deck of cards and lounging out on his bad, fully dressed.

They quickly switched so that Remy was in the bathroom, while Piotr walked out of the room to head across the hall to John's. He knew quite well that the pyromaniac never woke up early for anything, and would need to be forced to get up. He closed the door to his room and was about to walk over to his friend's room when he bumped into something small and heard an _'oof!_' just in front of him. He looked down and noticed Kitty on the ground in her uniform, rubbing her head with a small pout on her face. Immediately Piotr's face burned in embarrassment at the fact that he had knocked over the small girl because he hadn't seen her. "Katya, are you alright?" He asked, offering the girl a hand.

Kitty blinked upon hearing the Russian accent and looked up to see the gentle giant above her offering her a hand. Her cheeks dusted a pretty pink color as she accepted his hand and gave him a smile. "Yeah, like I'm _totally_ fine. My mom always said I had a hard head, so no worries! I guess I really should watch where I'm going, because this totally happens like all the time! I'm just clumsy I guess!" Kitty babbled on, getting nervous because she was talking to the very attractive former Acolyte. As soon as the words spewed from her mouth, Kitty wanted to facepalm. _Way to go Kitty. Dazzle him with your intellect._

Piotr smiled down at the girl and shook his head. "I should apologize. I did not see you there. I am glad you are not hurt."

"Yeah, no harm done big guy!" Kitty agreed before she checked the watch on her wrist before she grimaced. "But there _will_ be harm done if you guys don't get outside soon. Logan's totally gonna flip! You guys better get moving! Oh and a piece of advice, don't eat anything," Kitty called over her shoulder as she ran down the hallway and phased through the floor. Piotr smiled in her direction before he walked over to John's door and opened it to see John sprawled out on his bed and snoring loudly.

Piotr sighed. No way were they going to make it on time for training.

* * *

"Logan, ya okay sugah? I don't think ya face is supposed ta be that color," Rogue commented as she looked at the feral man in front of her. Logan, Rogue, Kitty, Scott, Amara, Jubilee, and Jean were all waiting outside by the pool area for the former Acolytes to make an appearance. Conner was already there, dressed in the uniform that Logan had given him, and he looked less than pleased at having to wait more time for others to arrive—especially when Amara and Jubilee were shamelessly talking about how cute he was not five feet away. Logan's patience was almost completely shot. Not only was the second new recruit late, but now he was waiting on the _Acolytes_. He gave Rogue a look before he crossed his arms over his chest, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Can it, Stripes."

"They should like, totally be here soon Logan. I saw Pete on his way out the door to his room before I got down here," Kitty assured, trying to calm Logan down and trying to make sure the Acolytes didn't get maimed as soon as they got down stairs.

"They should be here on time, Kitty," Scott chastised in true leader fashion as he checked his watch. "Their five minutes late."

"Well to be fair we _didn't_ really have much chance to give them proper notice of the procedures last night," Kitty pointed out, turning her pouting lips and puppy dog eyes to Logan. Logan made the mistake of looking at her and immediately his posture relaxed and he let out a low growl.

"They got five more minutes before they get killed."

"Whose gonna get killed?"

And just like that Logan's anger was back. He whirled around to look at the three men walking up to them. John was grumbling to himself and playing with his lighter while Remy stifled a yawn and Piotr scanned the group of people. "I hope you three have an explanation for why you're so late," Scott spoke up before Logan could pounce on them.

"Yeah, we were busy thinkin' of ways to get that stick outta ya ass, but we realized it's probably permanently inserted up dere," Remy retorted without hesitation. Scott clenched his hands into fists while Amara and Jubilee tried to stifle laughs. Conner's lips twitched into a small smirk of amusement.

Before anything more can be said Kurt 'bamfed' into the area with a girl standing with him. She was pretty with short blonde hair and big green eyes. She was almost Rogue's height and she had a pretty curvy body. She was decked out in the same uniform Conner was wearing and she had a small smirk on her face. "Zhe Professor told me to bring her. Zis is Marissa Holt zhe new recruit," Kurt explained. Marissa wasted no time in scouting out the area, completely ignoring the females and looking straight at the males in the group.

"Well now you all have decided to grace us with your presence, line up!" Logan barked out, practically growling at everyone. The Acolytes quickly moved to fall in step with Conner while Marissa practically skipped over to stand on the blue-eyed boys' other side and smiled up at him. Conner didn't seem to notice. With the newbies in line and his senior X-Men in a row behind him, he walked in front of the new recruits and shot them an intimidating stare. "You five are here today cause ya want to learn to control your powers or in some cases become X-Men. Now in order to do that, you're all gonna be put through the wringer, and whoever survives at the end of it has got permission to stay here." Remy and Conner's snort caused Logan to twitch slightly while the two boys shared a look and a small smirk. Logan's growl caught their attention once more however, as he gestured to the pool next to him. "First thing we're gonna work on is rescuing someone," Logan said gruffly.

He looked over to Scott who stepped forward and took over while Kitty, Rogue, Amara, Jubilee, and Jean all started to head over towards the pool and jump in, swimming towards the middle a good distance away from one another. Scott clapped his hands together and stepped in front of the group. "Alright, you'll each have to save one of the 'drowning' victims in the pool. Your time will be taken and how effective you are will be taken into consideration. No powers are to be used on this. Any questions?"

"Can we use mouth to mouth?" Remy asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as he looked over to Rogue in the pool.

"No," Logan growled from behind Scott, his claws coming out.

"It was just a question…"

Scott cleared his throat to get everyone's attention once again. "Alright Remy, you'll be rescuing Rogue—" Scott paused as he heard Rogue's mild cursing, before continuing. "Peter, you're partnered with Kitty. John you'll rescue Jean, Marissa you have Amara, and Conner you have Jubilee." At Jubilee's high-pitched squeal at being paired with the attractive newcomer Conner grimaced, but he chose not to voice his complaints. Instead everyone moved to stand by the pool, in front of their partners. Scott held the stop watch in his hands and looked over at the five mutants before he clicked the watch. "Go!"

Immediately each of the five dove into the water. Remy wasted little time to swim his way over to Rogue—who looked anything but pleased—and grinned at her. "Bonjour chere," Remy greeted, swimming close by the mutant instead of trying to save her like he was supposed to be doing.

"Ya aren't suppose ta be talkin' Swamp Rat," Rogue retorted with a narrowed glare.

Remy's grin turned into a smirk before he swam closer to the girl. "Ya right, chérie. Remy should be savin' ya," he muttered as he snaked his way around her waist, his hands travelling a bit lower, to grab her rear-end. Rogue's face immediately flared red and she elbowed Remy, taking satisfaction in the fact that he looked pained seeing as she hit him in the stomach. She swam away from him and over to the edge of the pool to pull herself out, while Scott frowned in confusion.

"What happened?"

"Ah'd rather drown!" Rogue huffed as she moved to stand by Logan and crossed her arms in annoyance.

Remy laughed and swam over to the edge to get out of the pool and sent a shit-eating grin towards the absorbing mutant before he looked at the others still trying to complete the task. Piotr was swimming towards the end of the pool, already holding Kitty with one of his large arms as the small brunette giggled. Whether she was giggling due to the fact that she was excited to be in Piotr's grasp or because she was thoroughly amused with the utterly confused and disturbed expression on Jean's face as John spoke about how her hair reminded him of fire and how she should totally set her hair on fire, he didn't know. It was a toss-up. Marissa seemed to be having some difficulties trying to save Amara while Conner, like John, was already done. He, however, felt no need to make any sort of conversation with Jubilee and instead just crossed his arms and stared into the water.

Piotr reached the edge of the pool and shifted his positioning so he was holding onto the edge with on hand, while he lifted Kitty up and out of the water with the other. Once he was sure she was completely out of the water and out of 'harm's way' he hoisted himself up and out before offering Kitty a hand to help her stand. She smiled up at him and accepted his hand before she went to walk over to Rogue with Jean—who had decided that walking away from the pyromaniac was in her best interest. Jubilee quickly followed after once she realized that Conner wasn't giving her the time of day and Amara joined the four other girls as soon as Marissa had successfully gotten them both to the edge of the pool.

"That was pathetic!" Logan roared as he looked at the five new recruits. He snarled. "You all better hope you've got some sort of skill or this month trial period is going to be the worst 30 days of your life!"


	3. Chapter 3

Just Another Day

Kitty flopped down onto her bed, finally happy to be able to rest. The new recruit training session hadn't gone well at all. After the little pool fiasco—Scott lecturing Remy for not actually trying, while Logan had threatened bodily harm to anyone who didn't give it their all—they had moved onto field training, dodging some of the defense systems that were set up in the front lawn. Because they couldn't let the new recruits get killed, the Shadowcat and Jean were put on the field to run with them through the lawn so that they didn't get killed. Jean was in charge of watching out for Conner and Marissa, while Kitty would run with the Acolytes seeing as Logan knew what they're powers were and that they wouldn't need as much guidance as the others.

Kitty was called upon only to phase John through a saw disk that had nearly hit him while he had been trying to burn his way through the lawn towards the front. She had to phase herself through a couple blasts and some haphazardly thrown playing cards but no one else had needed her intervention. Jean hadn't been needed much either seeing as Conner—displaying his super strength and anger issues—had savaged ripped through the course and Marissa kept breaking pieces of earth from the ground to use to shield her.

After that they had watched them complete a two mile run through the woods on the Institute's grounds and then a Danger Room simulation. They finally finished at around seven o'clock in the morning, but she wasn't super excited at having to be present for all of the training. She hadn't gone to sleep until one o'clock in the morning after the Acolytes had shown up—her mind had been racing far too fast for her to even think of sleeping—and she had woken up at four o'clock in the morning so that they could have their one hour Danger Room session. Having to run their DR session along with having to help the new recruits train on only three hours of sleep was _not_ something she enjoyed doing.

The door opening and slamming shut alerted the small brunette to the fact that her roommate had returned. She looked over to see Rogue walking in and flopping down onto her own bed facedown, much like Kitty had done just minutes earlier. Rogue turned her face so she could look at Kitty and sighed. "Ah hate new recruits."

"Tell me about it," Kitty mumbled as she rolled onto her stomach so she mirrored her friends' position, still making sure that she could see her. "The new guy seems pretty cool though."

"Ah feel bad for him. Jubs and Amara are gaga over him and even Rahne looked like she was interested when we walked back in just a couple minutes ago," Rogue pointed out. "That Marissa chick kinda reminds me of Lance with her earth powers."

At the mention of Lance's name, Kitty groaned loudly and buried her face in her bed. "I have a date with Lance at one," Kitty grumbled before she turned to look at Rogue again. "I can barely move and I smell horrible and I haven't eaten and I have to start getting ready for a date soon. Do you think he'd take a rain check?"

"Ah think ya should just blow him off," Rogue retorted, pushing herself onto her elbow to give Kitty a look. She noticed the exasperated look on her friends face and Rogue rolled her eyes. "Lance ain't any good, Kitty. Ya can do so much better."

"Lance isn't all that bad," Kitty defended him, pushing herself up to a sitting position. "He's just…"

"Kitty if ya say 'misunderstood' Ah'll smack ya."

Kitty promptly closed her mouth as she tried to think of a different adjective to describe Lance. Rogue gave the brunette a look that clearly said 'I told you so' and Kitty sighed. "I know that you guys don't like Lance, but deep down he can't be that bad."

"Who are ya tryin' to convince Kit?"

Rogue's question caused Kitty to flop back on her bed and bury her face into the pillow. The older girl merely waited and watched as Kitty started mumbling into her pillow things that she couldn't even begin to comprehend. It took a total of a minute before Kitty looked up and at Rogue with a tired and exasperated look on her face. "I don't know what to do Rogue! Lance and I have broken up and gotten back together five times! _Five_ times! And each time I think he'll finally learn and become more attentive and caring and romantic, but he _never_ does! Our dates consist of going to the movies and some ratty diner or us just making out! And for some reason I'm just so _stupid_ that I always take him back each and every time! I'm just so stupid! And I know that if I do break up with him I probably won't ever find another guy!" And with that Kitty flopped back onto her bed, looking as if she was trying to smother herself with her pillow.

Rogue blinked in surprise. She had expected Kitty to defend Lance with some weird sort of Kitty-logic—like the time Kitty had defended Oreos as a healthy food seeing as it was black and white like the spots on a cow, thus _scientifically_ making it healthy. She hadn't expected Kitty to just vent about how miserable she was in her relationship. She figured that Kitty's relationship with Lance wasn't really all that good, but she didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. It must've been really bothering her for a while for her to just explode like that and Lance and Kitty had just gotten back together two weeks ago. Rogue pushed herself up and walked over to sit on the edge of Kitty's bed because it really _did_ look like Kitty was trying to smother herself. She lifted Kitty up by her shoulders gently and gave her a small smile.

"Ya're not stupid, Kit. Ya're just so damn peppy and hopefully optimistic. Ya try ta see the best in people and give 'em the benefit of the doubt, even when they don't deserve it. And ya will find another guy again, ya're sweet and smart and pretty. Trust me, Ah wouldn't waste my breath tellin' ya this if it was just a lie," Rogue assured.

Kitty gave Rogue a watery smile and sat up to look at the girl like a lost puppy. "So what do I do?"

"Do ya want to stay with Lance?"

Kitty looked down and bit her lip, contemplating her answer. When she looked back up there were some tears spilling from her eyes as she shook her head 'no'. Rogue had to refrain from smiling at her answer cause the Lord knows how long she'd been trying to get Lance and Kitty away from one another. Instead she put a sympathetic hand on her friend's shoulder. "Den ya break up with 'em. It's no good to either of ya'll if ya're not happy with the relationship."

"How do I do that?" Kitty asked with a slightly pitiful expression on her face. When Rogue quirked her eyebrow in confusion she looked down in embarrassment. "He's normally the one who broke up with me…"

Rogue clenched her jaw to fight back an insult she had in mind for Lance and instead gave Kitty a wicked grin. "Don't ya worry about that. Ah'll help ya walk through it."

Kitty smiled and threw her arms around her friend, embracing her in a hug. Rogue was shocked for a second because she never was the recipient of hugs. Since she still hadn't gotten complete control of her powers, everyone avoided any physical contact with her, even though she was completely clothed and of no danger. And Kitty herself had been pretty hesitant of her when they first became roommates. But here she was with Kitty latched onto her and hugging her without fear or hesitation. Rogue let a smile grace her face and hugged her back, reminding herself of the simple reason why she originally went to comfort Kitty.

Kitty Pryde was her best friend and that friendship—though she would never admit it to anyone beside the small brunette in her hands—meant so much to her.

"Thank you," Kitty muttered into Rogue's shirt.

Rogue smoothed a gloved hand over Kitty's hair and smiled, pulling the girl a way and giving her a grin. "No problem, Kit. But before we do any kinda plannin'… we might wanna take a shower. We stink."

And like that Kitty's mood was lifted again as she laughed at the small joke.

"No, seriously, we should shower before we even go to eat. We smell like Bobby. It's kinda bad," Rogue said again, wrinkling her nose slightly. Kitty sniffed the air and grimaced.

"Yeah, shower first, plot later."

* * *

After their shower the two girls had quickly gone downstairs towards the kitchen—knowing from experience that living in a Mansion with boys meant there would be close to no food if they weren't in the kitchen within a certain amount of time. When they made it to the kitchen they saw that they were some of the lasts ones to arrive, but that there was still plenty of food on the table. Nearly everyone was seated at the table with the exception of Hank, Storm, Tabby, Roberto and Jean, who had all been called away on a last minute mission sometime after six. The room was filled with tension as Remy, John, and Piotr—who were sitting by each other on one side of the table—were being glared at by Logan, Scott, and Kurt from the other side of the table. Conner—who was sitting next to Logan—rolled his eyes at the group and continued to eat his pancakes, not wanting to even acknowledge the glaring match going on just inches from him while all of the others had created a safe distance from the men.

"Ooh, pancakes!" Kitty announced enthusiastically, obviously not sensing the tension in the room. Immediately all six men turned their attention to the perky brunette and the southerner who had walked through the door. Rogue shook her head and sighed as she went to go sit down on Remy's left side—seeing as they only other place left was beside Scott while Kitty still stood at the entrance in confusion, looking as if she was trying to search her mind for something to say so they would forget she was even there. "Um… yeah… pancakes… is there any syrup?"

"Right here," Conner answered, holding up the syrup bottle. Kitty immediately ran over and grabbed the seat next to Conner and sank into her chair, hoping that no one noticed her hasty exit from the metaphorical spotlight. Kitty shared a look with Rogue, who merely shrugged and swatted at Remy when he tried to put his hand on her thigh.

"What did we walk into?" Kitty muttered under her breath as she and Rogue both stood up to start to stack some pancakes onto their plates.

"The Cajun mouthed off."

Kitty's hand holding the fork slipped in surprise as she heard the whispered reply to the question she hadn't meant for anyone to hear. The fork clattered to the table and sent a pancake flying into the air before it landed on Logan's head. A silence reined over the table as everyone turned to look at the pancake slowly sliding down the face of the feral man who only seemed to grow angrier and angrier with each passing second that the pancake slid down his face. Remy and John burst out laughing while Piotr tried to hide his chuckles. Bobby, Ray, Jamie, and Roberto were all trying desperately to keep their composure, while Amara, Jubilee, and Marissa giggled in amusement. Rogue looked at Kitty with a horrified glance while Logan turned to look at the Shadowcat with a dangerous look in his eyes.

"Half-Pint…"

"Uh… just making sure you're fed?"

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because soon Remy's laughter became louder and John had clutched his stomach and started banging on the table as he struggled to breathe. Logan's glare deepened. Kitty's face exploded in a blush as she hurriedly took her seat and grabbed the syrup to douse her pancakes, not looking up at anyone for any reason as she continued to eat. Conner was trying not to smile as he went back to eating while Rogue quickly collected her pancakes and sat back down, not wanting to anger Logan any further.

Once the laughing died down and the pancake was removed from Logan's head, the room plunged into another tense silence. In between one of her bites of food, Kitty turned to look at the boy beside her and frowned when she looked back down at her plate. "How did you hear me?" She whispered again, making sure no one else heard her.

Conner pretended not to hear her and took a sip of his water. "Super hearing," he replied back in a whisper. "And you're not exactly far away either. Remy mouthed off to Logan and John started egging him on. Don't know what's Captain Code-Enforcer's deal is, but he started to mouth off back to them. They've been like this for twenty minutes."

Kitty nodded in understanding and went back to eating. It took five minutes for the younger X-Men and Marissa to finish eating and excuse themselves from the table and another five minutes before the Acolytes finished and got up to leave. As soon as the three of them were gone Kitty and Rogue sighed in relief that the tension was gone. Scott and Conner left not long after and Kurt 'bamfed' away after his third plate of food.

"Half-Pint, Stripes," Logan spoke up suddenly, catching the attention of the two girls. When he was sure they were looking at him, he continued speaking. "I want you both to keep an eye on the Acolytes. I don't trust em. And try and get to know the two newbies. I don't know much on them and I don't like not knowing."

"Like, how are we supposed to watch them?" Kitty asked with a frown on her face.

Logan tossed her a look. "Half-Pint, you can walk through walls."

"Oh… right."

"Why can't ya get Kurt and Scott to do it?" Rogue argued, crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance. "They seem like they'd be more than willin' to watch them.

"I'd be willing to watch em too, but Chuck won't let us. He knows that we're not number one fans of the Acolytes, so he wants us to give them space. He didn't say anything about you two," Logan rationalized as he got up and dumped his plates in the sink. "You two watch them, make sure they don't do anything suspicious, and report back to me. Got it?"

"I don't know Logan, they don't seem that bad," Kitty shrugged.

"Well that's because you're the Queen of Optimism," Logan retorted. He noticed that Kitty's face hadn't changed and rolled his eyes. "I'll take you shopping if you do it."

"Well, when you put it that way, like the safety of the Institute _totally_ should come first," Kitty quickly backpedaled, grinning brightly. Rogue rolled her eyes at her friend and nodded her agreement too.

Logan grinned and nodded. "Good. Now remember you report everything back to me. And make sure you don't think about it when you're around Jean or Charles. I don't want them knowing we're keeping tabs on them." At their nod, Logan started to walk away before he looked back over at Kitty. "Half-Pint, Chuck wants you to work on some stuff for him. Something with the computer programs or some shit like that. He said he sent it to your T-Mail."

"You mean E-Mail?" Kitty questioned.

Logan merely shrugged. "Whatever."

With that Logan walked out of the kitchen. Kitty then turned her attention to Rogue who was shooting her a look. "What?" Kitty asked in confusion.

"Ya'd do anythin' ta go shoppin'," Rogue pointed out as she got up to dump her empty plate in the sink. Kitty finished the final bite of her pancake and did the same as she followed Rogue.

"C'mon it's a free shopping trip with Logan! What was I supposed to do say no? When would an opportunity like that ever happen again?" Kitty argued as she looked to her friend.

"Why would ya wanna go shoppin' with Logan anyway?" Rogue questioned.

Kitty rolled her eyes as if the answer should be obvious. "Hello? It's Logan! He's no match for my puppy dog pout! And he has a credit card! All I'll have to do is hold up something I want, flash the pout and I'll have an entire new wardrobe by the time we get home! He's the _best_ person to go shopping with!"

Rogue blinked as she processed that bit of information, internally applauding her friends' cleverness. "Kit, ya're gonna take me with ya on ya're shoppin' trip. Ah need new shoes and some more shirts."

"Awesome! The more the merrier! And Logan will totally cave if you ask him to buy stuff too!" Kitty exclaimed excitedly, bouncing up and down at the prospect of a major haul. A look of realization crossed her face and she stopped bouncing and groaned dramatically as she followed Rogue out of the kitchen and down the hall. Rogue looked at her friend in confusion. "We still haven't plotted. No plotting. No plots or plans of any kind have been made. I'm plot-less."

Rogue rolled her eyes at Kitty and nudged her shoulder slightly. "Calm down, Kit. We're about ta start plannin' now."

"Plannin' what filles?"

The two girls jumped in surprise at the Cajun voice just behind them and whirled around to see Remy right behind them. The Cajun had a cocky smile on his face as he leaned against the wall casually shuffling his cards. His smile widened at their startled reactions. "Remy didn' mean ta scare ya. Remy can't help but overhear and Remy's gotta curious streak."

"It ain't any of ya business Swamp Rat," Rogue retorted as she grabbed Kitty's arm and started hurrying her along, hoping to get to their room quickly and lose their tail. Remy, however, was not deterred and continued to follow the two girls.

"Maybe da Chaton wants to tell Remy," Remy suggested, flanking Kitty on her other side, and giving him a charming smile. Kitty's face turned a shade of pink and she quickly focused on walking forward and not looking at the man beside her. Remy noticed her reaction and smirked. He had found the weak link in the metaphorical armor. "What be da problem, chat?"

"Leave 'er alone Swamp Rat," Rogue ordered with a glare, also noticing that Kitty's face was a nice pick color and that she was suddenly very fascinated with the carpet. "It ain't any of ya're concern. Why don't ya go make sure that Pyro ain't burnin' anything down?"

Remy looked like he was about to retort before he snapped his jaw shut and started feeling around for his pockets, searching for something. He quickly let out a colorful string of curses in both French and English before he started running down the hallway the opposite way, yelling. "Petey! John got his lighter back!"

"…should we be worried?" Kitty asked as she turned to look at Rogue. The older girl merely shrugged.

"Ah don' think so. They can handle it."

But just in case anything _did_ set on fire, Rogue quickly pulled Kitty down the hallway and into their room, locking the door behind them. Kitty moved to flop down on her bed while Rogue nudged the phaser's legs off the bed so she could plop down. Kitty complained but sat up so that there was room for both of them. "Alright, now, first thing's first. Do ya wanna break up with Lance here where Logan can maim him if he does somethin' stupid? Or do you wanna break up with him away from da mansion so ya don't have to worry about bein' embarrassed?"

"Minimal embarrassment, please!"

Rogue nodded. "Ah thought ya might go with that one. Well, I guess the best thing ya can do is go out on the date tonight and then tell him things aren't workin' out. Tell him that ya think ya need to see other people and that ya're not happy in the relationship and that it would be bad for both of ya'll if ya kept at it."

"But what if he, like tries to argue?" Kitty asked, poking her lips out in a pout. "What do I do then?"

"Ya just stick ta ya guns and insist it's for the best!" Rogue assured. "Just don't let 'em try and convince ya that ya should still date him."

Kitty nodded as she mulled over the bit of information. Once she had completely processed it—and the utter simplicity of the task of ending a relationship—she nodded and looked at Rogue with a frown. "So… like what do I wear? I never got dressed up to go break up with someone before. Is there like a code? Like don't go too cute?"

"Just go in what ya got on now," Rogue shrugged as she looked at Kitty. The girl was wearing a pair of light blue jeans with a pink tank top and cute white cardigan. Her hair was scooped up into a ponytail and she was wearing white tennis shoes. "That looks like a pretty good choice on what ta wear."

"Ya think?" Kitty asked as she stood up and walked over to the mirror, turning around so she could see herself at all angles. She tilted her head to the side and frowned. "You really think this is cute enough? I just put this one to walk around the Institute."

"Kit, ya dress like ya're goin' out even when ya just leave our room to use the bathroom."

"…touché," Kitty muttered as she looked at the clock on their bedside table. She exhaled and let her shoulders slump. "It's eight and my date is at one. I've got time to kill. Wanna go creep on the new kids now?"

Rogue wrinkled her nose in disgust "Don't say it like that Kit. We sound like stalkers."

"Technically we are. Ooh! We're like ninjas! We should totally do ninja rolls through the hallway!"

"Kit, Ah'm not gonna do ninja rolls."


	4. Chapter 4

Just Another Day

"So… does this happen a lot?" Conner asked with a quirked eyebrow as he looked at the scene unfolding in front of him. He had just got back into his room after heading to take a shower in one of the locker rooms and had to stop short at what he saw. His roommate John—whom he'd gotten accustom to fairly easily because he was mildly entertaining—was standing on top of a teetering bureau holding a lighter protectively in his hands while Remy and Piotr—two others he had formed a fast friendship with because of Remy's attitude and Piotr's quiet kindness—were scrambling to try and reach the pyromaniac. Remy was trying to climb up the already unstable piece of furniture while Piotr had grabbed a fistful of John's shirt and was holding him in place, even as the blonde and red head tried to claw at the wall to escape. Was Conner shocked by the sight? Yes. Was he amused? Yes. Was he confused? _Hell_ yes.

The three immediately stopped and looked towards the door. Conner had hung his towel around his neck and looked at the group in confusion. "Uh… da, comrade…" Piotr answered his question sheepishly.

Within a few seconds, John had tilted too far to one side and toppled off the bureau, dragging Remy down with him, the two landing on the ground in a heap with loud curses being shouted. The corner of Conner's lips twitched up into a small smirk as he moved away from the door and went to sit on his bed, using the towel to dry his hair. "So, why were you assaulting John?" Corner asked curiously, looking to the Russian, seeing as the other two men were still arguing and trying to untangle themselves from the floor with John still trying to hold onto the lighter.

"John has a way of… how you say… making mischief?" Piotr asked with uncertainty. When Conner nodded, Piotr continued. "He makes mischief with a lighter. He enjoys watching fire burn."

"Ah, a pyromaniac?" Conner guessed, causing Piotr to nod and smile that he was understood. Conner looked over to Remy who had managed to grab the lighter back from John and stood up from the ground, leaving John pouting in a corner. "So we shouldn't let him have a lighter?"

"Don't listen to 'em mate! They just don't know how to have a good time!" John argued, hoping to sway the newbie to his side.

Remy shook his head. "Don't give 'em any lighter or matches. Dat's how he burned his last room."

"It was an accident!"

"You watched and laughed," Piotr deadpanned.

"It was a _happy_ accident!"

Conner shook his head. "Got it… no flammable objects."

John whimpered but didn't complain. Instead he got up and went to his bed to flop down and pout like a child. Remy sat on the edge of John's bed while Piotr sat on the floor, leaning against the bed so he wasn't the only one standing. "So what's ya story, mon ami?" Remy asked, pulling out a deck and shuffling it in his hands as he looked towards Conner. The boy quirked up an eyebrow and Remy shrugged. "How'd ya end up 'ere? What's ya powers? Ya know dat kinda stuff."

"What's it to you?" Conner asked with a skeptical look on his face.

Remy shrugged again. "Curiosity. We all got a story, homme."

Conner thought about his statement for a few seconds before he opened his mouth to respond. Before he could say anything however, he snapped his mouth shut and he turned his ear upwards, narrowing his eyes as he concentrated on something. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Piotr asked in confusion as he looked around at Remy and John to see if they had heard the noise as well. When they shook their heads, they all turned to look back at Conner who had his eyes narrowed suspiciously at the closet. He kept quiet for a few more seconds before he quirked an eyebrow up.

"You do remember I told you I had _super_ hearing, right?" Conner asked, looking in the direction of the closet, confusing the other three occupants. They looked over to the closet and saw nothing. Conner rolled his eyes and started to get up from his bed. "I can hear you both breathing." This time there was a small squeak coming from the closet that got the attention of all the boys in the room. "Pretending to be a mouse isn't going to help you," Conner said with mild amusement as he walked over to the closet and threw the doors open causing Kitty to yelp and Rogue to facepalm. The other three boys jumped to their feet in surprise that Conner was right. The blue-eyed boy crossed his arms over his chest and gave the two girls a challenging look. "Care to explain what you're doing in here?"

"Kitty why didn't ya just phase us out?!" Rogue hissed.

"I thought he was bluffing!" Kitty replied in a helpless tone.

"Katya?" Piotr asked in confusion, looking over Conner's shoulder to peer at the small brunette in the closet, who immediately began to flounder for some sort of explanation or something that could say to salvage the situation.

John laughed. "I have _so_ many comin' out the closet jokes ready."

"Did ma chere come ta see Remy?" Remy asked with a smirk on his face.

Rogue was about to retort, but Kitty beat her to it. "Yup! Totally! She really wanted to see you so she asked me to help her! Begged me even! So here we are!" Kitty quickly agreed, bobbing her head up and down as if it would solidify their claim. Rogue had whipped around to stare at Kitty in shock.

"Kitty!"

"Don't deny your love for him!" Kitty retorted back dramatically, tossing an apologetic look towards her friend. Really it should've been expected. Rogue knew that Kitty was no good under pressure and it was either going with what the Cajun said or her making up some horrible excuse about being closet inspectors for the new recruits. "Lesser of two evils," Kitty whispered. And really it was. They're options were acting like creeps or getting caught spying for Logan. Neither one were good options, but seeing as her shopping trip depended on her being able to deliver accurate information to the feral man, she had absolutely no choice but to throw her friend under the bus.

"I heard that," Conner said with a quirked eyebrow. "What lesser of two evils?"

"No, no, mon ami," Remy interrupted as a large smirk appeared on his face. "Remy dinks da chaton is onto somethin'. Let's let da petite speak. Tell Remy about dis love Roguey has for em."

"Phase us out of here now!" Rogue ordered, grabbing onto Kitty's arm.

Without hesitation Kitty and Rogue disappeared through the back of the closet, leaving the four boys there still standing in confusion. They blinked a couple times before Conner closed the closet and walked back over to his bed, and lied down shaking his head. "What the hell have I gotten into by coming here?"

"Dat's da million dollar question, mon ami."

* * *

The piercing glare burrowing into the back of her skull eventually forced Kitty to turn around and face her roommate. Once she did, Kitty winced. Rogue was glaring daggers at her. The expression 'if looks could kill' came into Kitty's mind briefly before she tossed Rogue the most sincere apologetic look she had in her. "Okay, first let me tell you how much I love you. Second, I really had no choice! You know Logan would kill us if we got caught spying the first day! And to be fair, I didn't think that Conner's super hearing was _that_ good! Plus I didn't know that Remy or Peter were gonna be in there! Totally _not_ my fault! Did I mention how much I love you?"

Rogue continued to glare.

"…do you need a hug?"

"Ah'm gonna kill ya."

"Murder is frowned upon."

Rogue's glare intensified as she grabbed her pillow and hurled it at Kitty's face. Now while the girl could've very well phased herself through the pillow, she made the decision that if Rogue was mad at her _now_ just phasing through all of her 'attacks' would really get her going. So she just let the pillow hit her face before it fell to the ground. "Why woula ya tell the Swamp Rat that Ah 'loved' 'em?!" Rogue hissed at the small brunette.

Kitty shot her a helpless look. "What was I supposed to tell them? _'Hey guys, were just in your room to make sure you're not totally evil cause Logan doesn't trust you. But don't mind us, keep talking!' _Cause it was either that or me saying that we were doing a routine closet inspection to make sure everything was up to code!" Kitty retorted, throwing her arms up into the air dramatically.

Rogue rolled her eyes and shook her head, knowing that Kitty was probably right and that the girl was seriously bad under pressure if they weren't in the middle of some sort of battle. Toss her into the middle of a fight and she can come up with plans and handle herself fine. Toss her into a social situation where she has to lie and she gets a case of verbal diarrhea. Finally Rogue sighed and tossed another pillow at Kitty's face, though this one was thrown with noticeably less force. "C'mon we still gotta talk ta that Marissa girl."

"Let's not phase this time," Kitty advised as she and Rogue started to make their way out of their room to head to the room right next door to theirs. Seeing as Tabby was roommates with Amara and Jubilee shared with Rahne and Jean had a room by herself, Marissa also got to have her own room, right next door to Kitty and Rogue's. The two girls walked over and knocked on the door and waited patiently until Marissa opened the door, her short hair clipped up on the sides and dressed in a pair of running shorts and a lime green t-shirt. Kitty wrinkled her nose the slightest bit at the color of the shirt but quickly wiped off the expression and smiled. "Hey there!"

"Hey," Marissa said with a quirked eyebrow and a slightly narrow stare. "You're that Kitty girl right? And you're Rogue?"

Kitty nodded her head, giving the girl an enthusiastic smile. "Yup, that's us! We just wanted to stop by and welcome you to the Institute. We know how hard it is to be new here. Like it's _so_ stressful sometimes, so we like just wanted to make sure that you feel at home!"

Marissa's narrowed stare morphed into a slightly surprised and curious expression. "Oh, well thanks I appreciate it."

"So, where did ya learn to control ya powers?" Rogue asked curiously, trying to see if they could pry any information out of the girl. "Ya looked like ya had a good handle on 'em earlier."

"My mom is a mutant too," Marissa explained with a shrug as she leaned against the door so they couldn't see in and so she didn't have to invite the two girls into her room. "She taught me a lot of how to control my power. The rest was just trial and error."

"Oh did you live with your mom?" Kitty asked with a small smile on her face.

"Yeah, with both my mom and dad. My dad didn't really care about us being mutants as long as we didn't do anything too stupid with it. They're back in California right now," Marissa explained with a tiny smile on her face. Suddenly she looked at the two with a genuinely curious look on her face. "Can I ask you both a question?"

"Sure, ask away! We're always here when you need to ask us something," Kitty assured.

Marissa got a wicked little smile on her face as she leaned over to whisper to the two girls. "Do you know if those new guys are single or not? Not the pyromaniac, cause he freaks me out, but the other three." Rogue and Kitty blinked in surprise, sharing a look with one another that clearly meant 'what in the world?' Marissa didn't catch the exchange and instead grinned a little wider and kept talking. "That Cajun has got the sexiest accent and the Russian is totally drool worthy. Oh and that one with the scar through his eyebrow… mhmm… you girls totally know what I'm talking about, right?"

There was a slight pause in which Kitty forced a smile—Rogue didn't even bother hiding her shock or slight disgust—and nodded as sincerely as she could. "Yeah… totally… drooling and accents… I'm not really sure if any of them are single or not though…"

Marissa gave her a smile and shrugged. "Guess it doesn't matter either way. I did inherit my mother's ability to snatch up men."

"Well look at da time! Kit, ya got that thing ya gotta go get ready for. Ah'll help ya. Nice ta meet ya," Rogue said abruptly as she dragged Kitty away from the door and back to their room, with Marissa tossing them a smile and returning back into her room. As soon as she got Kitty back into their room and she slammed the door, she whirled around to look at the shocked look on Kitty's face. "Do ya believe her?! She was askin' about the guys bein' single as if this was some sorta matchmakin' service! Ah mean did ya hear what she said about them? Talkin' about his accent bein' sexy? How pathetic!"

Kitty, who had been bobbing her head in agreement with Rogue, abruptly stopped as Rogue slipped up and both girls fell into a silence. Rogue and Kitty both stared at each other, Rogue's face paling while Kitty's broke out with a Cheshire cat grin. "Ya didn't let me finish."

"Yeah I did," Kitty replied, her grin growing wider and wider. "So is _that_ why you kept that card he gave you?"

"Kit, stop it. It's not what ya think. Ah didn't finish my statement."

"Yeah, you _did_. And Marissa only talked about _one _of their accents being sexy. Just one. And he happens to be a certain Cajun we both know," Kitty replied, a checkmate expression on her face. Rogue just looked at Kitty, trying to will the small brunette to forget what she had heard. When Kitty merely continued to stare at her, Rogue sighed and shook her head.

"Kit, don't make a big deal about this."

"So it's true?" Kitty gasped, perching herself on the bed and grabbing her pillow, looking as if she was about to start watching a romantic comedy instead of listening to her friend. "You actually like Gambit?"

Rogue shook her head vehemently. "No! Ah mean… Ah don't _like_ 'em. Ah tolerate 'em… ugh… Ah don't know," Rogue finally spat out as she flopped down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. "He jus' get's on ma nerves! Ah wanna hit 'em sometimes! And other times Ah actually like bein' around 'em. Ah thought that with 'em in the Acolytes and me 'ere, Ah wouldn't have ta deal with this like back in New Orleans—"

"So something, _did_ happen when he kidnapped you?" Kitty questioned, with a small pout on her face as she tried to figure out what exactly was going on through her friends mind.

"No… well… Ah don't _think_ so."

Kitty continued to pout as she stared at her friend before it was like a light bulb had gone off in her head. "Rogue, when you got back to the Institute after you were kidnapped, did you start to kinda miss Remy?"

"Well Ah was used ta his ramblin'," Rogue said with a shrug.

"And why did you keep the card?"

Rogue shrugged. "Don't know."

"Rogue…"

"What?"

"You had a crush on Remy!" Kitty exclaimed, jumping up and down on her bed. She spotted the horrified look on Rogue's face and she beamed. "It totally makes sense! You had a crush on Remy after he kidnapped you! And now that he's back, you're totally crushing on him again! That's why you like got so upset with Marissa! You like Remy! So I _wasn't_ lying to Remy earlier!"

"Ah _do not_ like Remy!" Rogue argued, shaking her head as if she was trying to shake the entire idea of a relationship with the Cajun out of her mind. "Ya've gone crazy, Kit."

"Sure, I have. I'm telling you Rogue, you totally like him. I guarantee you! Mark my words, you'll end up with Remy!"

"Don't try an' jinx it! Ya're tryin' to give me bad luck! Ah don't like the Cajun!" Kitty just continued to grin at her and Rogue rolled her eyes. "Quit lookin' at me like that, Kitty."

There was a series of light knocks on the doors that sounded like there was ten different people each trying to get the attention of the people inside. "Kitty! Kitty, I need your help!" The echoing voice alerted the Shadowcat to the fact that the person on the other end had to be Jamie. She frowned and got up from her bed to answer the door to see ten Jamie clones in the hallway, talking all at once, trying to explain something to her at different times creating a jumbled incoherent mess.

"Whoa, like slow down, Jamie," Kitty cut in, holding her hands up to get the attention of the clones. Once they all ceased their talking, Kitty looked at them seriously. "Now, just _one_ of you explain what's going on."

The real Jamie stepped forward and waved a stack of papers in the air. "Kitty, I _really_ need your help with my math homework! My teacher told me that if I get anything lower than an A on my homework or tests she'll fail me for the year! She hates mutants and she's doing this cause I accidentally sneezed and made two of me in class. I really need your help! Please? Please?"

"Sure, she'll help ya! She's got nothin' ta do until one anyway," Rogue piped up from behind Kitty, looking satisfied that she would be able to get rid of her roommate for a decent amount of time. As soon as the Jamie's heard her response, they beamed, grabbing onto her hands, arms and clothes before they pulled her along the hall, despite her complaining and shouts for them to stop pulling her along. As soon as they had disappeared down the hallway, Rogue smiled in satisfaction before closing her door and walking back over to her bed. "Finally, peace and quiet."


	5. Chapter 5

Just Another Day

"Alright, so you'll just try and get the 'y' by itself so that you can get the value of it. Just like that, see?" Kitty asked as she turned back to look at Jamie. He had a concentrated look on his face as he stared intently at the problem that Kitty had just solved, his tongue sticking at one side. The two mutants were sitting in the library with Jamie's book spread across the table. Kitty had managed to teach him most of what was on his homework and what was going to be on his test the next day. The only thing left to teach him was how to determine the equation of a line.

"So, if it's like 6x = y + 4… I'd subtract the '4' from the side with the 'y' and I'd get… y = 6x – 4?"

"That's perfect! You like totally got the hang of this now!" Kitty exclaimed excitedly, proud of the young mutant. As much as she and Rogue liked to pretend they were annoyed by the presence of the younger members of their team—which often times they _would _be for some reason or another—the two girls had a sort of bond with them. They had taken on a sisterly, guiding role for them, watching as they progressed and learned and grew. So to see the youngest of them learning something that she had taught him, it made her extremely proud of the boy.

Jamie's face exploded into a large smile. "I got it right? Yes! Can we try another one to make sure?"

"Sure, no problem! Now, let's say you had 8x - 4y = 12. How would you start solving that one?" Kitty asked as she watched Jamie right down the problem and start to solve it, mumbling the steps under his breath as his pencil moved across the paper. Kitty watched him work, ready to point something out if he made a small mistake before the sound of someone clearing their throat caught her attention. She looked up and saw Logan at the door to the library, with an annoyed look on his face. "What's up, Logan?" She asked immediately.

"Your boyfriend is outside," Logan muttered, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the front door.

Kitty looked up at the clock on the wall in confusion, seeing that it was only noon and Lance wasn't supposed to show up for another hour. "Lance is here already?"

"Yup. He's been in the living room, complaining for about five minutes now," Logan said, rolling his eyes.

"So, are you going to be leaving now?" Jamie asked, looking up from his problem to stare at Kitty. Kitty looked back at him and saw the slightly disappointed look on the boys' face. "If you want to go its fine. I'm pretty sure I have this down. I can do a couple more practice on my own."

"No… Lance can wait," Kitty commented, causing both Logan and Jamie to look at her in surprise. Kitty tossed them both a smile. "He should've called and said he'd be here early. I can't change my schedule just because he's in a mood." Logan smirked while Jamie smiled. "Alright, now let's try a couple more practice and then I'll be able to give my Kitty Pryde seal of approval on your math skills!"

"Thanks Kitty!"

"I'll go tell him that he needs to calm his ass down and wait," Logan commented with a smirk. "Good job Half-Pint."

"Thanks."

* * *

Lance was _beyond_ annoyed. He tapped his foot impatiently, as he glared at the man in the room. He'd been waiting for Kitty for over twenty minutes and with each passing minute his annoyance grew larger and larger. He had just gotten back together with Kitty a few weeks ago and she was already acting annoying. For a so called genius, he figured that she would be able to realize that if she kept acting annoying, he'd keep breaking up with her. She would blow him off saying that she had to 'study for some test' or that she had to stay for someone's birthday. She was _his_ girlfriend. She should be dropping everything to spend time with _him_ not blowing him off in order to make these losers happy. This was one of the reasons he broke up with her and even now that they are back together she's _still_ blowing him off for something else.

Logan said something about Kitty helping that twerp Jamie. He hadn't really paid attention all that much. But with the Wolverine sitting in front of him on the couch, he couldn't help but be annoyed with the way the man was grinning at him smugly.

"Cyclops said the rec room should be this…"

Logan and Lance both looked up and towards the door seeing Conner entering the room with John, Remy, and Piotr following behind him. As soon as the three Acolytes appeared in view Lance had jumped to his feet, narrowing his eyes and glaring at them. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Lookin' for the rec room, mate!" John commented as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He then narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Why do ya look so familiar?"

"Hey it's da Brotherhood loser! Da one dat wears dat fruit bowl over his head!" Remy exclaimed, with a laugh. He turned to hit Piotr's arm. "Ya know! The one dat tried ta take ya down with da chaton?"

Immediately Piotr's face turned into one of recognition. "Da, I remember. The one that moves the ground."

"Why the hell are they here?!" Lance shouted, looking to Logan for some sort of answer as to why the three Acolytes were there with Logan looking only annoyed instead of jumping into a fighting stance, much like the Brotherhood member had.

"They're gonna be X-Men," was Logan's simple reply as he glared at Lance. "And you best watch your tone with me."

"You've got to be kidding me. _They're _gonna be X-Men?" Lance scoffed as he turned his attention to Conner who had been standing there and watching in silence ever since they had walked into the room. "And who's he? Some other wannabe? You guys need to learn to stop picking up strays."

"Wanna come over her and see just why I'm here?" Conner threatened, taking a step closer and growling threateningly.

"Ease up, Champ, I ain't about to referee a fight," Logan warned.

"I don't really like the way he's talkin' about us," John said with a smirk, flicking his lighter open.

Lance apparently took this as an invitation to fight. "You wanna do this? Alright! Let's rock!" He shouted as his eyes started to roll back in his head and the ground started to tremble violently. Within seconds, Logan was up and his claws were out with an unmistakable _'shink'_.Remy had pulled out a handful of cards and charged them, John had made a fireball, Piotr had armored up and Conner merely smirked and cuffed his hand into a fist. Before anyone had the chance to do anything Kitty had run into the room—on unstable legs seeing as the ground was still shaking—and fell into Piotr, grabbing onto his arm to use him to steady herself.

"Lance, what do you think you're doing?!" Kitty shouted. At her shout Remy retracted the charges on his cards, Logan sheathed his claws, and John put the fireball out. The rumbling abruptly stopped and Lance turned to glare at Kitty and Jamie—who had run in shortly after the earth stopped trembling.

"And were the hell have _you_ been? I've been waiting here for like half an hour!" Lance hissed.

"That is no way to speak with her," Piotr said in a clipped tone, defending the small brunette next to him. She looked up in confusion as to why he was defending her, and let a small smile grace her features.

"You stay out of it, metal head."

"You better listen to Colossus. Watch the tone with the Half-Pint, bub," Logan threatened.

Kitty ignored the banter and decided to go back to Lance's comment. "I've been helping Jamie with his math homework. And I don't care how long you've been waiting. Our date isn't until one anyway."

"Ya're datin' 'em?" Remy asked in shock. He looked from Kitty to Lance and back again, shaking his head in disappointment. "Standards, chaton, standards. Ya can do better. If ya need datin' advice or a wingman, ma door is always open."

"You wanna start something, Gambit?" Lance hissed.

Remy smirked. "More den anythin' mon ami."

"Uh… we can work on my math later…" Jamie piped up, feeling uncomfortable. He looked up at Kitty and gave her a half smile. "I can wait."

"Good, now let's go Kitty," Lance ordered, storming towards the door, expecting Kitty to follow after him.

"Watch your tone with Katya," Piotr said with a steely edge to his voice.

Kitty patted Piotr's arm to get his attention. She looked into the eyes of the large Russian—having to crane her neck up, seeing as he was still in metal form—and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, big guy. I can take care of myself. Trust me," Kitty said, giving him a wink. She then turned her attention to Conner briefly. "How good is your hearing?" She whispered. Conner frowned and nodded once, showing he heard her. "Tell Logan he shouldn't worry about me being late tonight. Or Lance anymore." Conner quirked an eyebrow up just as she turned to start walking away. "Let's just say I realized that Remy was right and I'm about to raise my standards," Kitty whispered as she headed to the door. She heard Conner start laughing just as she closed the door.

* * *

Kitty knew her date was probably going to bad. She knew it before she had left the house and she knew it when she'd made the actual date. But she had no idea how _bad_ it would really be. As it was, the entire ride to the movies was completed with Lance complaining and lecturing her about him having to wait for her and insulting Jamie and the Acolytes and Conner. Kitty had merely let him keep talking, adding reasons onto the ever-growing list of why she wasn't regretting her decision regarding breaking up with Lance. Once they got to the movie theaters to watch the movie that Lance had picked out, Kitty had started to regret her choice to go for the minimal amount of embarrassment.

"This is the movie we're watching?" Kitty asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, what of it?" Lance asked with a shrug as he moved to find seats, balancing popcorn and a soda in his hands.

Kitty couldn't believe what she was reading. She stared at the ticket in her hand as if she could be able to change the printed words on the paper. She didn't even know _why_ they were showing this movie. It was made way before she was even born. "Why are we watching _Army of Darkness?_" Kitty asked as she sat down beside Lance.

"Because it's the best movie ever?" Lance asked as if it should be obvious.

"This is the most idiotic movie ever," Kitty argued, shaking her head.

Lance turned and looked at her with a narrowed stare. "This movie isn't idiotic. It's awesome!"

"Shhh!" Someone behind them shushed as the coming attractions started to play.

Kitty grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest, sitting back in her seat and watching the attractions go across the screen. As the movie started and went on, Kitty completely zoned out and started to use the time to think. She thought about all the time she had spent with Lance and how their relationship had grown, only to realize it hadn't. They had been at essentially the same phase in their relationship as they had been when they had first started dating. They'd been going in circles, doing the same thing all the time. And the thought of her staying with Lance any longer to continue the vicious circle of events frightened her.

And when she had had enough of thinking and dwelling, she sat up and looked towards Lance with a serious expression on her face. "We need to talk."

"Shhh!"

Lance looked at her from the corner of his eye as he shoved another handful of popcorn into his mouth. "Shhh, this is the best part!"

"Lance, we need to talk _now_," Kitty ordered as she got up from her seat and walked out of the theater, waiting by the door for Lance to come out. He arrived a minute after her with an annoyed look on his face.

"What the hell Kitty? We're missing the movie!"

"Lance, this isn't working."

Lance stopped abruptly. "Excuse me?"

Kitty sighed and shook her head, trying to remember exactly Rogue's wording. When she figured out she wouldn't be able to repeat it verbatim, she decided to adlib it. "Lance, I just don't think this is good for either of us. I mean, we've broken up so many times… it says something. I don't think we should be together anymore."

"Where is this coming from all of a sudden?" Lance asked with anger in his voice as he stepped closer to Kitty, looking around to make sure no one could see their little spat. "Are those losers telling you this?"

The anger and the comments she'd been holding back earlier came flooding back as Lance, once again, insulted her friends. She took a step forward and poked a finger to his chest, glaring at him. "Don't you dare call my friends losers, Lance Alvers. They're people that actually care for me and my happiness though I don't know if I really ever could've said the same for you! And this had _nothing_ to do with them. _I_ made this decision, and _I_ finally realized what a jerk you are!"

"You're choosing them over me!" Lance exploded, causing the ground to shake a bit.

Kitty didn't let the small display of power intimidate her and instead she took a step back and shook her head. "I'm not choosing them over you. I'm choosing me, and what's best for me. And I'm sorry Lance, but that's just not you." Lance clenched his jaw and glared down at Kitty. Kitty caught the expression and sighed. "I'm really sorry Lance. I didn't want things to end like this. I was hoping we could still be friends though."

"Why the hell would I want to be your friend?" Lance sneered.

Kitty flinched slightly at the venomous tone to his voice and looked down at the ground. Rogue didn't prepare her for how horrible she'd feel after breaking up. "Can we just get out of here?" Kitty asked, not wanting to spend any more time in the theater than she had to be. She just wanted to get back to the Institute, curl up in her pj's with a carton of Ben and Jerry's and maybe watch some movies with Rogue. She wanted to push the events of the day out of her mind and try to shed the guilt she felt at having to dump Lance. Internally she wondered if this was the same feeling Lance had to go through whenever they broke up. Somehow she doubted he felt bad.

"You got legs."

Kitty snapped her head up and looked at Lance in shock, wondering if she truly just heard what she thought she did. Lance saw the look of surprise on her face and gave her a malicious smile. "You heard me. If you wanna go, no one's stopping you. The door's right there. Just because a high maintenance, uppity valley girl starts bitching at me doesn't mean I have to drop everything I'm doing."

"It's over eight miles to get back to the Institute," Kitty argued, her face growing hot as anger and embarrassment started to take over. On a side note, she didn't have to worry about getting rid of the guilt anymore. That pretty much morphed into an angry little monster as soon as Lance finished his comment.

"Well then you better get walking. If you'll excuse me, I have a movie to watch," Lance retorted as he walked back into the movie theater, leaving Kitty alone.

Kitty stood there in shock for a few seconds before she whirled around and walked out of the building and pulled her phone out of her back pocket. If Lance wouldn't take her home, she could call Logan or Scott. They would definitely come by to get her, and maybe they'd even kick Lance's ass a bit. She clicked the home button and waited for her screen to turn on. When it didn't she clicked the button again. Still nothing happened. After the third time, Kitty realized that her phone was dead. "Oh no… I _knew_ I forgot to do something when I went to bed yesterday…" Kitty muttered to herself. She must've forgotten to plug in her phone after the Acolytes had arrived the night before.

And that left Kitty stranded without a phone and eight miles away from the Institute. Sighing, she started her walk. She could already feel her muscles and feet protesting, especially after having to run essentially two danger room sessions. But there was nothing more she could do but keep walking. A wind blew by, making the phaser cold. Kitty crossed her arms over her chest and internally kicked herself for not bringing a jacket. She muttered curses under her breath as she waited for the light to change so she could cross the street.

"If walking eight miles doesn't give me epic rapping skills like Eminem, then I'm going to be very upset."


End file.
